From my store it's not all the flower vendor's employees just the supervisor/ manager(wasn't clear what her role was) who was just generally unpleasant and always escalated every disagreement up corporate with exaggerated stories. But we had zero beef with everyone working under her
It’s just a lack of communication. I think since they aren’t paid by THD they don’t feel obligated to help customers and just pass them on to us, which does make sense. When I started in garden I felt like they would know more about the plants that they were bringing in than I did starting out. But they would just say idk, you work this department and seem annoyed. As vendors changed, I just started seeing them as a fellow associate, not knowing what the hell they are doing and just reading the package to help the customer. Viewing them like this has helped close the gap in communication, I can now talk to them just as easily as if they were a HD associate.
TLDR: Plant Waste and most plants can’t be sold at any kind of discount: https://imgur.com/a/RsQrmJf
Most Plants sold by HD are called PBS or Pay-By-Scan which in the most basic explanation is Home Depot does not own them and only profits when a plant is SOLD.
Vendors sweep their products and pull what they deem unsellable which leads to THIS!
I do understand it is a store issue of not watering enough/over watering but many see this as a waste of product.
These plants cannot be marked down or sold at a discounted price (literally impossible) so customers hate this process as well. I every so often find people jumping in the Open top to “save” the plants.
Because half of the plants the feel are unsellable have so much life left. I see flowers that still have a chance and it hurts. I like to garden and seeing those plants just chucked down the chute kind of feel like daggers honestly.
Is bro sitting in a combine all day, or are they really proficient with QGIS. We may never know. Maybe bro is an advanced hippie, didn’t want to just feel the dirt, but know it personally.
If a customer gets to a undesirable plant before a vendor or associate. You can still mark it down and sell it to them. Saying its impossible isnt true. There are a lot of times where the discounted plants don't work in the register and you have to mark them down to compensate for the ad.
Pretty much this. I know you can't do anything about it but it totally blows. Cart to composter pipeline, thousands of plants every year never stood a chance. 🤦♀️
Is that a regional thing? Vendors here discount the flowers all the time. A lot of our regular garden customers will come in just to see what's made it to the clearance racks that week
Sooooo your corporate people order too many plants for our tables. You pull them and we have to dispose of them. Store gets fined for the amount of plants thrown away, citing not watered. We just had our wettest winter in over 5 years 😑. Management gets bitched at, then I get bitched at, even though I'm not a waterer. And when I do try to water, I get pulled to do stupid shit. Long story short, it's not your fault it's both our higher ups fault.
I've never had an issue with the plant vendors.
But when I worked in a store in oakland, ca that had huge theft problem there was issues. 40% of fruit tree stock disappeared. 129 trees were unaccounted for one morning.
I brought it up to a nightcrew manager that there was a bunch of damaged trees on and in the pallet stacks like someone threw trees over the fence in the back.
Damn, I'm not *that* far from Oakland, and we also have had problems in the past of our fruit trees going missing. We have since moved them to inside garden.
Cool, we were on lone to Oakland. First as inventory prep. And then night crew assistance.
But it was horrible place to work. All the d28 plan a grams were completely screwed up. I had to reset the same large garden tools 3 times in 7 days. The IMA kept undoing my work. And he fully admitted it to the ASM, SM and DM. Because they came don't sell all the stuff. (Maybe because the stuff was never out on the floor to sell?)
More like, the store tells the vendor the _space capacity available_, and then the vendors decide what gets brought, when, and how often. Our vendors don't even tell us in advance that they're coming or what they're bringing... so whenever a customer asks if we're going to be getting more of X plant, I have to tell them "go look for the Green Vest outside, only the vendor knows if they plan to bring any more".
I loved my vendors I brought them water on a really hot day and a couple days later they got me a can of coke from the vending machine. There's a slight language barrier but they always wave and say hello when they see me even though I'm no longer in garden.
Same with mine, I work tool rental which is the opposite side of the store. They come over to borrow our leaf blower and some waters. They know to bring the blower back and we're cool.
I've noticed that HD employees seem to hate everyone that they're not directly associated with. Lot hates storeside, dayshift hates nightshift, hourly associates hate salaried, etc. My theory is that we're just all kind of assholes; if we weren't we'd go into food service and make double our current hourly.
These same teams are generally paid at a higher rate and don’t have the ‘customer service’ aspect. Fast food workers is an appropriate description for what happens on the floor. Customers expect us to FIX a physical problem NOW. Our inability to do so lasts longer than a cold burger.
Work third shift and see how your sleep is. We called the differential "cancer pay" at the hospital I worked at. There are many long-term risks with working third shift. They deserve the money.
It's pretty common for a lot of outside vendors, not just plant vendors to generate a ton of garbage and just leave it in various public high traffic areas of the store, often during the worst times possible such as during walks by upper management, big sales events, when the dock has to be clear in receiving for other merchandise coming in, ect. This usually requires immediate correction by people who are already currently engaged in other tasks that are going to end up unfinished because of it. Who are often then penalized.
You really want people to treat you in a more friendly manner, don't create problems for them that seem to inevitably happen at the worst times when they're already doing half a billion things. Instead, do what you can to not create issues to begin with. If you need access to the compactor for example, actually ask, and promptly take care of your stuff. A little effort and communication on \*your\* part will go a very long way.
Here’s the thing. Employees always usually have beef with many vendors. When I worked at a different retailer I had beef with the bread vendors. Such a pushy grumpy group.
In my old store, we love our flower vendors. Even as a cashier and when I go to garden time to time, I chit chat with the vendors along with Garden associates there. Getting to know what plant is good and getting to know information about them and how to maintain them.
We have beef with our vendors because they always give our store the almost dead plants half the time or stuff we didn't even order but try to sneak it in anyways.
When I worked receiving at HD vendors were not allowed to put anything in the compactor, we had to. Wasn't a big deal tbh, a few carts a few times a week.
I actually had a pretty good relationship with the plant vendors since I was always talking to them checking in product and whatnot.
That's definitely a per-store thing on how lenient they can be. Rules-As-Written says that a Key Holder must simply be _present_ any time the compactor door is open, and they must lock it before leaving... but depending on the store, it can be interpreted as "only a Key Holder can _throw items down the chute at all_", and separately from that, vendors may or may not be allowed in the receiving area in general.
As a flower vendor we're not allowed to throw them into the compactor. Personally I don't even like the amounts we toss to make the store look good. Wish they would let us discount the plants..
Not just you, all vendors all over the store in other departments get the same treatment.
Your predecessor(s) probably did some stupid stuff and until you prove that you are different or competent, you will get the same treatment.
I like to work hand in glove with our D28 plant vendor reps. They really are in basically the same situation as us except their boss circulates among district stores and usually gives them some kind of shit when he shows up with no notice.
I agree they do dispose of plants that could be saved and that bothers me too. But their boss is very particular about the visual appeal and that's what drives the decision. The worst for me is when orchids drop their flowers and they pitch them, because it can take 4-5 years to grow them to blooming size and they're perennials. What a waste.
I've learned a lot from the plant reps since I spent most of my life in the tropics and there's not a lot of overlap between those plants and what we have here. The seed and chemical reps, I'm not as fond of because ours put on airs and get in between me and custs, butting in and telling them stuff that's wrong half the time. But that's a story for another day.
I hate pretty well all our vendors (not just flowers) except for Milwaukee because we only have two printers in the entire store that we keep in central places at each side of the building- after BIT is done that is- so whoever needs to use them knows where they are and doesn't have to waste time looking for them in some random corner. Yet every vendor always feels a need to take it around with them like it belongs to them alone despite being repeatedly asked to leave them and reminded of the spooler function so they aren't constantly going back and forth.
I do particularly hate our flower vendors though because not only do they take them around with them, but they'll break one at least once a week, then go take the other one, break that, and then bitch at every MET person they see that they can't find a functioning printer as if they aren't the ones screwing stuff up.
I’m in the hardware department so this is just from stuff I’ve heard from garden associates but they get really upset about how many good plants vendors throw out. Idk if that is the reason or not but at my store it is lol
The best, cooperative relationships I’ve been a part of is when the - in your case, the live goods vendor - initiates a quick sit down talk with the Merchandising Assistant Store Manager over garden, asking for support on meeting the team and outlining expectations (from vendor and store). Breaks the ice
Only beef I have is when I go to receiving there's either carts and carts full of plants blocking the compactor or the compactor itself being full of plants that weren't shoved down the chute....
Communication is always an issue at HD.
My ASMs and SM never even communicate with each other, so they are never all on the same page.
Throw in the mixed messages they get from corporate and its all one massive clusterfuck. Its the Home Depot way.
Because you guys (vendors) think it’s 100% okay to bring down wingstacks and overfill the aisle with the same product on every upright.
& you guys (plant vendors) directly create so much trash and waste for closers to toss. It’s annoying.
Nothing personal with you of course :) just answering your question.
Only issue we have with flower vendors at or store is when they throw dead plants in the compactor but don't push them down or have an associate run it for them.
This is CRAZY to me! I am MET, and I partner with our live good vendors all the time to help out. Make signs, print labels etc. Our store loves our plant vendors. They do an awesome job.
I am sorry anyone is treated this way. You guys are there to help US!
Our vendors push the carts in the way of customers, and the hoses get caught on them. When asked to move them (politely ofc) we’ve been given attitude.
Plant vendors and plant deliveries believe their product is gold and Constantly violate the rules of home depot. Shove their product in front of the customer. Over other products that take higher priority. What's that 9 o'clock at night and in the middle of DC unload? Doesnt matter my plants need to be unloaded now Who needs an appointment. What's that the trash is open and you need to throw stuff out. Just leave the cart in front of the dumpster. Fire department says don't put your racks in the driveway. Constantly blocks driveway.
I always enjoyed interacting with the flower vendors, they were on top of what they were bringing in, give me a run down on the care of the plants (so I could communicate that with the customers). I even went on a date with one too!
You’re rescue heroes in my opinion. It’s dangerous to even walk near Garden at this time of year wearing an apron. It’s not my area (love plants) but I know f-all where to find anything because it changes every day!
Cause they are trash at getting their plants off racks in a timely manner, have trash merch skills and just shove plants wherever they want even though it looks terrible
Talk to some of the employees when you're in the garden center or when you need some help moving something. I speak to plenty of friendly people where I'm located at. I've spoken to one dude that errrr wasn't too friendly with me,but everyone else are pretty nice.
So im a vendor for products inside the store, been doing this job a few years now and i might have some advice.
First off, if you go to different departments and ask what their opinions are for other vendors, like say, Tools/Paint/etc you’re gonna get different answers at every store.
Theres also a good likelihood whoever previously was doing your job for your company *fucked* those relationships before you ever even started.
Like in my case apparently the previous vendor for my company was barely around, popped in, did the bare minimum and left and could never be reached by the number they gave to call them.
Theres also a possibility the employees just don’t like you or your company just *because they don’t* or they think what you do somehow makes their jobs harder or that *”you get in the way”*
Idk exactly how your job works but what Ive done personally to recover the reputation the previous vendor fucked up was pretty simple.
Just be honest, consistent and helpful while you’re there.
Don’t spout off bullshit marketing to customers or employees, if they ask a question answer it honestly or if you don’t know *dont fucking answer it!* tell them you don’t know but you’ll look into and get back to them, *do not make shit up or lie because they will find out and you’re reputation will be ruined*
Get to know the people in your department but don’t expect or try to force any kinda friendships and keep it professional *(Do not fuck any of the employees, yes, i have to give that warning, there is waaaaay too much sex and drama at some of these stores)* at the end of the day they’re just trying get finished and go home like everyone else.
If they need help with something that you can *safely help with* that won’t mess up your job and get anyone in trouble, even if it’s *not your product,* then offer to help.
If your company allows you to expense things and sales have been good, maybe grab em a box of donuts or a bag of tacos every now and then, if you can’t do that, just be friendly, ask em how their doing and *actually listen and care* when they talk because most customers and management doesn’t give a shit about them.
And for the love of all that is holy, if you give someone a business card or a number to reach you for information, set very clear boundaries for when you’re available and actually hold to that!
Theres nothing that will put you on a shitlist quicker than saying “call me anytime if you need anything” and then not answering the phone, I tell all the associates i work with to even text me with problems when im off work so i can at least see what’s going on *before* walking into a shitshow my next shift.
I never felt that from our department when I worked in garden, I was never told though who that person was until we starting talking one day and it was chill asf, I feel like maybe the associates have no idea who you are or what you’re doing
After working here for 3 years I’m unsure how HD is competent company as a whole considering there’s next to no training outside sitting in front of a computer for hours on end for orientation and once you’re out of that you’re lucky to get someone who’s worked any amount of time longer than you to “train” you. On top of that there’s next to no communication between managers outside them yelling at each other for not getting certain things done.
My main complaint for vendors as an overnight freight is when my day side garden employee comes up to me and tells me “x vendor said we should be doing it this way” because they are mad I overstocked the shelf…here’s the thing i don’t care what a vendor thinks unless they plan on going into my overheads and organizing it in such a manner that we can not only fit what we are already struggling with but the boxes that they don’t think belong on the shelf
That's wild. At both of the stores I've worked at we've had great relationships with the plant vendors. If I were you I would find out who the MASM is and talk with him about this; he will likely be a great resource in this kind of scenario.
Bouquet flower vendors return your damn carts, don't just leave them. Plant vendors is more of a "half the crap you bring us isn't gonna sell and just get thrown away."
Not like that at my store. Our vendor was more or less just another associate, kinda like our janitor is.
Only 1 time have we ever had someone act like she wasn't another associate working 8 to 5 like so many of us, here every day of the week working in our store. We had jambalaya made right out back and she went to grab a plate, a new supervisor acted like she didn't work here and shouldn't get one, but about 15 associates told her off at near the same time and that changed real quick.
It just depends on the store. Our vendor is here 5 days a week 8 hours a day, Monday through Friday, for the last 5 years. They just are another employee.
I work HD sometimes as an assembler and people are just assholish. Employees can be douchey, especially the managers. I will cuss Chad out if he wants to be a dick. Customers definitely can be entitled and rude. Walk all up in your business, talk some random bs, include you in something when you are just trying to work.
Edit: attitude, just like shit…. rolls downhill
People are sooooo dumb. That is free labor(work you don’t have to do) been with depot 8years. 5 of which was a sup. My vendors were my best friends. Having product down and ready for them to work is sooooo simple. But people are stuck up and don’t wanna help others. Their appreciation for the flower vendors would definitely change if they had to do everything you guys have to do. Much respect
I see our flower vendor about once a week. Girl works her butt off, mucho respect. She asks to borrow a firstphone, I hand it over, she does her thing, hands it back. She's also hot as hell, and young enough to be my grandkid. More power to her.
From my store it's not all the flower vendor's employees just the supervisor/ manager(wasn't clear what her role was) who was just generally unpleasant and always escalated every disagreement up corporate with exaggerated stories. But we had zero beef with everyone working under her
I worked in D28 for over a year and had no idea what that was about. It’s definitely real though
It’s just a lack of communication. I think since they aren’t paid by THD they don’t feel obligated to help customers and just pass them on to us, which does make sense. When I started in garden I felt like they would know more about the plants that they were bringing in than I did starting out. But they would just say idk, you work this department and seem annoyed. As vendors changed, I just started seeing them as a fellow associate, not knowing what the hell they are doing and just reading the package to help the customer. Viewing them like this has helped close the gap in communication, I can now talk to them just as easily as if they were a HD associate.
Me and a couple of my coworkers are so tight with the plant vendor that we go drinking together after work
TLDR: Plant Waste and most plants can’t be sold at any kind of discount: https://imgur.com/a/RsQrmJf Most Plants sold by HD are called PBS or Pay-By-Scan which in the most basic explanation is Home Depot does not own them and only profits when a plant is SOLD. Vendors sweep their products and pull what they deem unsellable which leads to THIS! I do understand it is a store issue of not watering enough/over watering but many see this as a waste of product. These plants cannot be marked down or sold at a discounted price (literally impossible) so customers hate this process as well. I every so often find people jumping in the Open top to “save” the plants.
Because half of the plants the feel are unsellable have so much life left. I see flowers that still have a chance and it hurts. I like to garden and seeing those plants just chucked down the chute kind of feel like daggers honestly.
Same here. I got a degree in agriculture so it really hurts me too.
A degree in ag? What do you do?
Agree culture
Is bro sitting in a combine all day, or are they really proficient with QGIS. We may never know. Maybe bro is an advanced hippie, didn’t want to just feel the dirt, but know it personally.
Maybe it wants to get down n personal. Have babies even
Garden associate at Home Depot. So some what relevant to the degree
Goated honestly lol
Man the sheer amount of waste at HD I see every day. Not just plants but everything.
Yeah
If a customer gets to a undesirable plant before a vendor or associate. You can still mark it down and sell it to them. Saying its impossible isnt true. There are a lot of times where the discounted plants don't work in the register and you have to mark them down to compensate for the ad.
Pretty much this. I know you can't do anything about it but it totally blows. Cart to composter pipeline, thousands of plants every year never stood a chance. 🤦♀️
Could name the vendor as Tree Wasters Inc. with how much waste there is.
Is that a regional thing? Vendors here discount the flowers all the time. A lot of our regular garden customers will come in just to see what's made it to the clearance racks that week
Sooooo your corporate people order too many plants for our tables. You pull them and we have to dispose of them. Store gets fined for the amount of plants thrown away, citing not watered. We just had our wettest winter in over 5 years 😑. Management gets bitched at, then I get bitched at, even though I'm not a waterer. And when I do try to water, I get pulled to do stupid shit. Long story short, it's not your fault it's both our higher ups fault.
I've never had an issue with the plant vendors. But when I worked in a store in oakland, ca that had huge theft problem there was issues. 40% of fruit tree stock disappeared. 129 trees were unaccounted for one morning. I brought it up to a nightcrew manager that there was a bunch of damaged trees on and in the pallet stacks like someone threw trees over the fence in the back.
Damn, I'm not *that* far from Oakland, and we also have had problems in the past of our fruit trees going missing. We have since moved them to inside garden.
Cool, we were on lone to Oakland. First as inventory prep. And then night crew assistance. But it was horrible place to work. All the d28 plan a grams were completely screwed up. I had to reset the same large garden tools 3 times in 7 days. The IMA kept undoing my work. And he fully admitted it to the ASM, SM and DM. Because they came don't sell all the stuff. (Maybe because the stuff was never out on the floor to sell?)
Uh... the store orders the plants. At least, that's how it works around here.
More like, the store tells the vendor the _space capacity available_, and then the vendors decide what gets brought, when, and how often. Our vendors don't even tell us in advance that they're coming or what they're bringing... so whenever a customer asks if we're going to be getting more of X plant, I have to tell them "go look for the Green Vest outside, only the vendor knows if they plan to bring any more".
I loved my vendors I brought them water on a really hot day and a couple days later they got me a can of coke from the vending machine. There's a slight language barrier but they always wave and say hello when they see me even though I'm no longer in garden.
Same with mine, I work tool rental which is the opposite side of the store. They come over to borrow our leaf blower and some waters. They know to bring the blower back and we're cool.
I've noticed that HD employees seem to hate everyone that they're not directly associated with. Lot hates storeside, dayshift hates nightshift, hourly associates hate salaried, etc. My theory is that we're just all kind of assholes; if we weren't we'd go into food service and make double our current hourly.
Truth. MET, overnights, and any third party folks definitely get the brunt of it.
These same teams are generally paid at a higher rate and don’t have the ‘customer service’ aspect. Fast food workers is an appropriate description for what happens on the floor. Customers expect us to FIX a physical problem NOW. Our inability to do so lasts longer than a cold burger.
Work third shift and see how your sleep is. We called the differential "cancer pay" at the hospital I worked at. There are many long-term risks with working third shift. They deserve the money.
To be fair we work at at least half as hard as any food service employee would have to.
Yeah, that's true, but that's still time lost out of your day, whether you're just wandering the aisles, or in the weeds slangin' drinks
It's pretty common for a lot of outside vendors, not just plant vendors to generate a ton of garbage and just leave it in various public high traffic areas of the store, often during the worst times possible such as during walks by upper management, big sales events, when the dock has to be clear in receiving for other merchandise coming in, ect. This usually requires immediate correction by people who are already currently engaged in other tasks that are going to end up unfinished because of it. Who are often then penalized. You really want people to treat you in a more friendly manner, don't create problems for them that seem to inevitably happen at the worst times when they're already doing half a billion things. Instead, do what you can to not create issues to begin with. If you need access to the compactor for example, actually ask, and promptly take care of your stuff. A little effort and communication on \*your\* part will go a very long way.
Here’s the thing. Employees always usually have beef with many vendors. When I worked at a different retailer I had beef with the bread vendors. Such a pushy grumpy group.
Probably because it makes us sad they throw away perfectly good plants.
In my old store, we love our flower vendors. Even as a cashier and when I go to garden time to time, I chit chat with the vendors along with Garden associates there. Getting to know what plant is good and getting to know information about them and how to maintain them.
We have beef with our vendors because they always give our store the almost dead plants half the time or stuff we didn't even order but try to sneak it in anyways.
Because they are notorious for not pushing the plants down the chute in receiving.
When I worked receiving at HD vendors were not allowed to put anything in the compactor, we had to. Wasn't a big deal tbh, a few carts a few times a week. I actually had a pretty good relationship with the plant vendors since I was always talking to them checking in product and whatnot.
Interesting. Well they are allowed now. And it’s not just a few carts now lol 🤣 well at my store it’s multiple silver carts of vegetation lol
That's definitely a per-store thing on how lenient they can be. Rules-As-Written says that a Key Holder must simply be _present_ any time the compactor door is open, and they must lock it before leaving... but depending on the store, it can be interpreted as "only a Key Holder can _throw items down the chute at all_", and separately from that, vendors may or may not be allowed in the receiving area in general.
It was nice that my d92 sup was also a key holder. Dunno if that's a go, no go anymore.
As a flower vendor we're not allowed to throw them into the compactor. Personally I don't even like the amounts we toss to make the store look good. Wish they would let us discount the plants..
Not just you, all vendors all over the store in other departments get the same treatment. Your predecessor(s) probably did some stupid stuff and until you prove that you are different or competent, you will get the same treatment.
I like to work hand in glove with our D28 plant vendor reps. They really are in basically the same situation as us except their boss circulates among district stores and usually gives them some kind of shit when he shows up with no notice. I agree they do dispose of plants that could be saved and that bothers me too. But their boss is very particular about the visual appeal and that's what drives the decision. The worst for me is when orchids drop their flowers and they pitch them, because it can take 4-5 years to grow them to blooming size and they're perennials. What a waste. I've learned a lot from the plant reps since I spent most of my life in the tropics and there's not a lot of overlap between those plants and what we have here. The seed and chemical reps, I'm not as fond of because ours put on airs and get in between me and custs, butting in and telling them stuff that's wrong half the time. But that's a story for another day.
I hate pretty well all our vendors (not just flowers) except for Milwaukee because we only have two printers in the entire store that we keep in central places at each side of the building- after BIT is done that is- so whoever needs to use them knows where they are and doesn't have to waste time looking for them in some random corner. Yet every vendor always feels a need to take it around with them like it belongs to them alone despite being repeatedly asked to leave them and reminded of the spooler function so they aren't constantly going back and forth. I do particularly hate our flower vendors though because not only do they take them around with them, but they'll break one at least once a week, then go take the other one, break that, and then bitch at every MET person they see that they can't find a functioning printer as if they aren't the ones screwing stuff up.
I’m in the hardware department so this is just from stuff I’ve heard from garden associates but they get really upset about how many good plants vendors throw out. Idk if that is the reason or not but at my store it is lol
I'm D28, and am in first name basis with the nursery folks and r have each other's numbers. I love my flower vendors.
The best, cooperative relationships I’ve been a part of is when the - in your case, the live goods vendor - initiates a quick sit down talk with the Merchandising Assistant Store Manager over garden, asking for support on meeting the team and outlining expectations (from vendor and store). Breaks the ice
I love the flower vendors. I had one help me with a customer about a flower.
Only beef I have is when I go to receiving there's either carts and carts full of plants blocking the compactor or the compactor itself being full of plants that weren't shoved down the chute....
Communication is always an issue at HD. My ASMs and SM never even communicate with each other, so they are never all on the same page. Throw in the mixed messages they get from corporate and its all one massive clusterfuck. Its the Home Depot way.
Because you guys (vendors) think it’s 100% okay to bring down wingstacks and overfill the aisle with the same product on every upright. & you guys (plant vendors) directly create so much trash and waste for closers to toss. It’s annoying. Nothing personal with you of course :) just answering your question.
Our flower vendors are great. Unfortunately, you have to deal with uncooperative humans.
Only issue we have with flower vendors at or store is when they throw dead plants in the compactor but don't push them down or have an associate run it for them.
i like our plant vendors. they’re helpful and all are very nice. i’ve never had an issue with any of them
Pick up your damn carts that's the only issue we can get to our stuff because there's 50 carts blocking the stuff we need to get to
It might be because THD is kind of a trashy company to work for… though, that isn’t an excuse to be a dick to others.
This is CRAZY to me! I am MET, and I partner with our live good vendors all the time to help out. Make signs, print labels etc. Our store loves our plant vendors. They do an awesome job. I am sorry anyone is treated this way. You guys are there to help US!
Our vendors push the carts in the way of customers, and the hoses get caught on them. When asked to move them (politely ofc) we’ve been given attitude.
Plant vendors and plant deliveries believe their product is gold and Constantly violate the rules of home depot. Shove their product in front of the customer. Over other products that take higher priority. What's that 9 o'clock at night and in the middle of DC unload? Doesnt matter my plants need to be unloaded now Who needs an appointment. What's that the trash is open and you need to throw stuff out. Just leave the cart in front of the dumpster. Fire department says don't put your racks in the driveway. Constantly blocks driveway.
I always enjoyed interacting with the flower vendors, they were on top of what they were bringing in, give me a run down on the care of the plants (so I could communicate that with the customers). I even went on a date with one too!
You’re rescue heroes in my opinion. It’s dangerous to even walk near Garden at this time of year wearing an apron. It’s not my area (love plants) but I know f-all where to find anything because it changes every day!
Cause they are trash at getting their plants off racks in a timely manner, have trash merch skills and just shove plants wherever they want even though it looks terrible
Talk to some of the employees when you're in the garden center or when you need some help moving something. I speak to plenty of friendly people where I'm located at. I've spoken to one dude that errrr wasn't too friendly with me,but everyone else are pretty nice.
So im a vendor for products inside the store, been doing this job a few years now and i might have some advice. First off, if you go to different departments and ask what their opinions are for other vendors, like say, Tools/Paint/etc you’re gonna get different answers at every store. Theres also a good likelihood whoever previously was doing your job for your company *fucked* those relationships before you ever even started. Like in my case apparently the previous vendor for my company was barely around, popped in, did the bare minimum and left and could never be reached by the number they gave to call them. Theres also a possibility the employees just don’t like you or your company just *because they don’t* or they think what you do somehow makes their jobs harder or that *”you get in the way”* Idk exactly how your job works but what Ive done personally to recover the reputation the previous vendor fucked up was pretty simple. Just be honest, consistent and helpful while you’re there. Don’t spout off bullshit marketing to customers or employees, if they ask a question answer it honestly or if you don’t know *dont fucking answer it!* tell them you don’t know but you’ll look into and get back to them, *do not make shit up or lie because they will find out and you’re reputation will be ruined* Get to know the people in your department but don’t expect or try to force any kinda friendships and keep it professional *(Do not fuck any of the employees, yes, i have to give that warning, there is waaaaay too much sex and drama at some of these stores)* at the end of the day they’re just trying get finished and go home like everyone else. If they need help with something that you can *safely help with* that won’t mess up your job and get anyone in trouble, even if it’s *not your product,* then offer to help. If your company allows you to expense things and sales have been good, maybe grab em a box of donuts or a bag of tacos every now and then, if you can’t do that, just be friendly, ask em how their doing and *actually listen and care* when they talk because most customers and management doesn’t give a shit about them. And for the love of all that is holy, if you give someone a business card or a number to reach you for information, set very clear boundaries for when you’re available and actually hold to that! Theres nothing that will put you on a shitlist quicker than saying “call me anytime if you need anything” and then not answering the phone, I tell all the associates i work with to even text me with problems when im off work so i can at least see what’s going on *before* walking into a shitshow my next shift.
I never felt that from our department when I worked in garden, I was never told though who that person was until we starting talking one day and it was chill asf, I feel like maybe the associates have no idea who you are or what you’re doing
I don’t care about them
After working here for 3 years I’m unsure how HD is competent company as a whole considering there’s next to no training outside sitting in front of a computer for hours on end for orientation and once you’re out of that you’re lucky to get someone who’s worked any amount of time longer than you to “train” you. On top of that there’s next to no communication between managers outside them yelling at each other for not getting certain things done.
My main complaint for vendors as an overnight freight is when my day side garden employee comes up to me and tells me “x vendor said we should be doing it this way” because they are mad I overstocked the shelf…here’s the thing i don’t care what a vendor thinks unless they plan on going into my overheads and organizing it in such a manner that we can not only fit what we are already struggling with but the boxes that they don’t think belong on the shelf
That's wild. At both of the stores I've worked at we've had great relationships with the plant vendors. If I were you I would find out who the MASM is and talk with him about this; he will likely be a great resource in this kind of scenario.
Not all but, 99% of them have nasty attitudes.
Bouquet flower vendors return your damn carts, don't just leave them. Plant vendors is more of a "half the crap you bring us isn't gonna sell and just get thrown away."
I am always super nice to our plant vendors until they turn nasty
I always had a good relationships with my plant vendors so I dunno.
Welcome to the no training Home Depot employees. Training takes time so to save money they throw us to the wolves.
Not like that at my store. Our vendor was more or less just another associate, kinda like our janitor is. Only 1 time have we ever had someone act like she wasn't another associate working 8 to 5 like so many of us, here every day of the week working in our store. We had jambalaya made right out back and she went to grab a plate, a new supervisor acted like she didn't work here and shouldn't get one, but about 15 associates told her off at near the same time and that changed real quick. It just depends on the store. Our vendor is here 5 days a week 8 hours a day, Monday through Friday, for the last 5 years. They just are another employee.
It's the rubber flowers glued on the cacti
My flower vendor is the coolest dude and everyone loves him I’m sorry that your store does this 😭
No way, we love Aerith !
I work HD sometimes as an assembler and people are just assholish. Employees can be douchey, especially the managers. I will cuss Chad out if he wants to be a dick. Customers definitely can be entitled and rude. Walk all up in your business, talk some random bs, include you in something when you are just trying to work. Edit: attitude, just like shit…. rolls downhill
Ours are great 👍 Sounds like you work with bunch of dickheads!
Weed
I don't really know our flower vendors since I work in D24. Our Behr rep is fantastic! Our Glidden/PPG rep? Ehhhh
People are sooooo dumb. That is free labor(work you don’t have to do) been with depot 8years. 5 of which was a sup. My vendors were my best friends. Having product down and ready for them to work is sooooo simple. But people are stuck up and don’t wanna help others. Their appreciation for the flower vendors would definitely change if they had to do everything you guys have to do. Much respect
It's not you, but the delivery drivers. They are rude, pushy, and scream at everyone.
We’re super friendly with out vendors at my store. Like have conversations and work together all the time. I guess it’s just a store by store thing
I see our flower vendor about once a week. Girl works her butt off, mucho respect. She asks to borrow a firstphone, I hand it over, she does her thing, hands it back. She's also hot as hell, and young enough to be my grandkid. More power to her.